Vietnam is moving ahead to legally recognize digital currencies such as bitcoin in the country.

VNA last week reported that Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc gave a nod to assess and streamline the legal framework for the management of digital currencies in the country. Phuc has asked the Ministry of Justice to supervise and coordinate with other relevant organisations to examine the existing legal framework and propose suitable revisions and solutions.

The Ministry of Justice is expected to coordinate with the State Bank of Vietnam, Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Industry, and Trade and Ministry of Finance in this effort.

According to the report, Phuc has given a year’s time for the assessment, which must be completed before August 2018. In addition, all related legal documents are required to be ready by the end of 2018.

Furthermore, the ministries have to finalize an application asking for the compilation of a legal framework on cryptocurrency taxation by June 2019, while the proposals for dealing with violations related to cryptocurrencies must be ready by September 2019.

This is a positive development for the cryptocurrency community. The effort to legalize bitcoin follows a warning by the Department of Electronic Commerce and Information Technology issued last year in which it cautioned citizens against dealing in virtual currencies such as bitcoin.

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